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Preparation and characterization of humic acid–carbon hybrid materials as adsorbents for organic micro-pollutants

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Abstract

The present work involves the preparation of novel adsorbent materials by the insolubilization and hybridization of humic acid (HA) with carbon. The prepared materials were characterized by N2 adsorption, elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, solid-state 13C cross polarization magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance, and low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxometry on wetted samples. The water solubility of these materials and the lack of effect of oxidants were also confirmed. With this background, the adsorption capacities toward phenol, 2,4,6-tricholrophenol, and atrazine were evaluated, using these as model compounds for organic micropollutants of concern in water. Experimental results show that the prepared materials are mesoporous and have a higher surface area than humic acid and even than the porous carbon in the case of carbon coating. They retain the basic features of the starting materials with lowered functional group content. Moreover, there are interesting new features. NMR relaxometry shows that equilibration of water uptake is very fast, making use in water simple. They have higher adsorption capacities than the pure materials, and they can be applied under a wide range of environmental conditions.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Egyptian cultural affairs and missions sector through a scientific channel program between the National Research Centre, Egypt and University of Calgary, Canada. Some assistance for experiments in Calgary came from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The sponsors had no role in study design, data collection analysis or interpretation, writing of the manuscript or the decision to publish.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Water Pollution Research, National Research Centre, 33 El Bohouth St, Dokki, Giza, 12622, Egypt

    Emad K. Radwan, Hany H. Abdel Ghafar & Ahmed S. Moursy

  2. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt

    Ahmed H. Bedair

  3. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Arts, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Hany H. Abdel Ghafar

  4. Department of Chemistry, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW, T2N 1N4, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Emad K. Radwan & Cooper H. Langford

  5. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW, T2N 1N4, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Gopal Achari

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  1. Emad K. Radwan
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  2. Hany H. Abdel Ghafar
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Correspondence to Emad K. Radwan.

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Responsible editor: Roland Kallenborn

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Radwan, E.K., Ghafar, H.H.A., Moursy, A.S. et al. Preparation and characterization of humic acid–carbon hybrid materials as adsorbents for organic micro-pollutants. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 12035–12049 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4468-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4468-9

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